Virgin Gorda

Let's start with the longest ride: Virgin Gorda is the furthest island we normally travel to. The ride takes about an hour (depending on the seas, if the waves are up you may want to pick a different destination). First stop is Spanish Town where customs will take about a half hour to check in. Just the captain has to do this while you can walk around the boat docks or check out vessels for sale in the near-by boat yard. Then it is back on board and a short ride to the famous "Baths" .

These huge boulders appear to be tossed helter skelter along the beach. The Baths is a destination in itself, you could spend the whole day here. Get in the water and snorkel into shore. There are paths through the boulders that lead you in and out of water pools. Climbing and squeezing through these natural rock formations is great fun. When you have traversed through the paths: put your snorkels back on and take the outside route back to the boat.

Big stag horn coral, elk horn coral, brain coral, sea fans, colorful fish and rock walls will give you a great view of the under sea world as you swim back to the boat. By now you must be hungry… If you brought a bag lunch this is a good time to eat. No Lunch? Traveling west back up the Sir Francis Drake Channel you will pass Fallen Jerusalem (same boulders as the Baths, without the crowd).

Next island you see is Round Rock then Ginger then Cooper. Cooper is home to the Cooper Island Beach Club. Great lunch stop! Back on the boat, traveling west again you will pass Salt Island. Only one person lives on this island full time. Supplies come across the cannel a few times a week. You can go ashore and buy a big bag of sea salt from the pond. On the west side of Salt is the wreck of the RMS Rhone. This rocky point sank one of the most luxurious ships of its time, the R.M.S. (Royal Mail Ship) Rhone.

The Rhone sank October 29, 1867. This was 50 years before the Titanic sank, but the sinking of the Rhone was as appalling to the world as the sinking of the Titanic. The R.M.S. Rhone was the first steel-hulled, propeller-driven ship to cross the Atlantic. It was 310 feet long and faster than anything afloat. It carried mail and passengers to and from England to the Virgin Islands. Of the 147 people on board 23 survived a vicious hurricane.

The wreck is a bit deep for snorkeling but if the day is sunny and sea calm you may want to take a short break here. Look for a very big prop! Traveling west again you will pass Dead Chest…Dead Chest Island reputedly got its name when the notorious pirate Blackbeard, after a mutiny, put 15 men ashore on this island with only a bottle of rum--hence the song: "15 men on a dead man's chest, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum."

If the sea is calm, the south shore is an excellent snorkel. Next island is Peter Island, home to the Peter Island Resort. A very up scale resort on a private island. Behind Peter Island is the Willy T floating bar. If time permits and you have a bit of a thirst this is a very fun stop. Drink up and it's back to the boat for the last leg of your journey down the Sir Francis Drake Channel. Now it is getting time to head back to Cruz Bay were we must again check into U.S. Customs.